Asia Pacific Banks: New measures announced to deepen financial connectivity; Structural positive for HK banks

Research evidence excerpt

Asia Pacific Banks: New measures announced to deepen financial connectivity; Structural positive for HK banks

Equity Research

8 July 2026 | 8:28PM SGT

Asia Pacific Banks: New measures announced to deepen financial

connectivity; Structural positive for HK banks

Melissa Kuang, CFA

+65-6889-2869 |

melissa.kuang@gs.com

Goldman Sachs (Singapore) Pte

Wayne Wang

+65-6889-2866 |

wayne.q.wang@gs.com

On Jul 7, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), together with the Hong Kong Monetary

Authority (HKMA) and the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), announced a

package of 11 measures aimed at further strengthening financial cooperation

between Hong Kong and Mainland China at a Summit. Of the 11 measures, six are

focused on supporting Hong Kong’s fixed income and currency (FIC) markets and

enhancing Hong Kong-Mainland financial market connectivity, while the remaining

five are aimed at further developing Hong Kong’s offshore RMB business.

While an overview of all initiatives is provided below, we highlight the expansion and

enhancement of the HKMA’s RMB Business Facility (RBF), which is expected to take

effect on 10 July 2026. Under the revised framework, the facility size will increase

from RMB200bn to RMB500bn, while available tenors will be expanded to include

9-month, 2-year and 3-year maturities, in addition to the existing 1-month,

3-month, 6-month and 1-year tenors.

Overall, we view the package as a structural positive for the Hong Kong banks under

our coverage (BOCHK, BEA, STAN and HSBC). From a broader perspective, the

measures should support RMB-related balance sheet growth across the sector by

increasing offshore RMB liquidity and facilitating greater RMB business activity. In

this context, we believe BOCHK is likely to be the key near-term beneficiary, given its